Reed noted “this budget will cut the CSU by at least $650 million – nearly one-fourth of state operating support – and the effects will be felt throughout our 23 campuses and among our 412,000 students.”
By Pat Lopes Harris, Media Relations Director
With state lawmakers poised to vote this afternoon on the latest proposed budget, CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed issued the following statement:
“This budget is a great disappointment for the California State University. It is a shame that the legislature was unable to reach a compromise that would have kept taxes at current levels and prevented further massive cuts to the public’s universities.
“This budget will cut the CSU by at least $650 million – nearly one-fourth of state operating support – and the effects will be felt throughout our 23 campuses and among our 412,000 students. The proposed ‘trigger cut’ of another $100 million is especially problematic because the trigger won’t be pulled until classes for our last semester of the fiscal year have already started and it is too late for campuses to respond in any practical way. This makes it impossible to plan and carry out our mission with any stability.
If the trigger is pulled, our cut will total $750 million. State support for the CSU will be at its lowest level in 14 years, even though we currently serve 90,000 more students. California’s economy cannot fully recover, nor can its future promise be fulfilled, by starving its universities.”
The “trigger cut” depends on state revenues, which are projected to increase. “If the new revenues don’t materialize by early next year, a trigger would automatically force $2.5 billion in further cuts,” including $100 million to the CSU, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
View the CSU Budget Central website.